A few days ago at work I was called out to the front to help a unhappy passenger, when I walked out there stood a soldier in uniform, I always notice their rank patch, I think that just comes with living on a military facility, this soldier was a Lt Col, now I am not at all intimidated by rank, but I do have a huge respect for it, you don't get that high up without some really hard work.
Anyhow he was livid, and just kept yelling, every time I tried to say something to him he would yell louder, he kept saying he wanted a manager and I kept telling him I was the manager on duty, it went on for a few minutes until I literally looked him square in the eye and told him he needed to cease speaking and listen to me NOW. With his rank also comes the fact that he is most likely not used to being challenged so I think the shock of it was enough to calm him down so I could find out what the problem was. I finally got the story as to why he was upset and could even sympathize with him. I ended up staying late at work to try and get his issues resolved (thus missing a meeting with our own Lt Col, but it worked out fine) and being able to see his attitude go from I am upset and never want to use your company again to thank you for going out of your way to help me and being told I should be made president ( a job I respectfully declined, that is one job I would NOT want lol). The next day I called him just to verify everything had turned out to his satisfaction and then this morning got up and drove to work on my own time to ensure his return trip went well, I am glad I did that since he had some trouble this morning and arrived late and would not have made it had I not already checked him in and been waiting for him, for this I got a hug and another thank you so much, very rewarding to know I helped someone have a better experience and was able to turn a negative into a positive, it is those times that make going the extra mile worth it.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Military celebrities
Sometimes being married to a military spouse is like being married to a celebrity, I do not notice it as much now that we live on a major Army Post, but when my husband was station commander of a small town recruiting station and he along with his one helper where literally the only Army in town, or when we travel now and he is uniform I see it again. I imagine it is the same in areas where National guard units have been activated, or anywhere that you do not see military on a daily basis.
People stop and stare, many will stop and shake his hand, want a picture taken with him or just want to say thank you. I love that he always stops talks to them, and answers their thank yous with the same thing... your welcome I am just doing my job.
We used to get our lunch paid for all over the place by grateful anonymous people, he says he has never paid for coffee in the airport, and we have several thoughtful gifts that people have given him. He had a cute young admirer when we were in Colorado, this young boy (maybe 15 or 16) was mentally challenged, he worked as a bag boy at a local grocery store and anytime my husband would walk in this boy would follow him all over the store, he never said anything he would just watch him, then one day he stopped looked at my husband and saluted him, I will forget how proud I was of my husband as he stopped looked the boy right in the eye and saluted him back, or the look of absolute happiness on the boys face. I am so grateful for the support people show to my husband and our military, even if it means we get our dinner interrupted while someone we do not know wants to stop and say thank you or if we have to stop numerous times as we walk through an airport to shake someones hand. Those moments counter act the bad ones, and as a military spouse unfortunately we see them as well. His government phone used to ring at the same time every week with someone trying to entice him to come down town under the pretense that there were possible recruits he should come talk to, instead it was some locals who did a weekly protest of the war and the military, they would try to get him down there and then yell nasty slurs at him and try to get him to react to them, as he says he's got some pretty tough skin and he did not let it bother him, but it bothered me, he has sacrificed so much to allow these people the rights to feel however they want and they repay him by saying such ugly things to him, it broke my heart.
He had several parents act as if he was going to come steal their children right from their beds and send them off to the Army, and they had no problems telling him how they thought their kids were above military service. And the worst was the elementary school principle who would not allow him to speak to the children, he had gone with me at the request of one of the teachers (who had asked me to bring a Veterans out to talk to the kids on Veterans Day) the vet I had asked fell of a roof and was unable to go, my husband (who at the time was just my friend) stepped in and agreed to go, when we got there and they found out he was a recruiter he was not allowed to speak, they had him lead the kids in the pledge of allegiance but he could not say anything else, he said had it not been for the kids he would have walked out, but instead he lead them in the pledge dressed in his blues with all his ribbons on looking just like the real life hero he is.
People stop and stare, many will stop and shake his hand, want a picture taken with him or just want to say thank you. I love that he always stops talks to them, and answers their thank yous with the same thing... your welcome I am just doing my job.
We used to get our lunch paid for all over the place by grateful anonymous people, he says he has never paid for coffee in the airport, and we have several thoughtful gifts that people have given him. He had a cute young admirer when we were in Colorado, this young boy (maybe 15 or 16) was mentally challenged, he worked as a bag boy at a local grocery store and anytime my husband would walk in this boy would follow him all over the store, he never said anything he would just watch him, then one day he stopped looked at my husband and saluted him, I will forget how proud I was of my husband as he stopped looked the boy right in the eye and saluted him back, or the look of absolute happiness on the boys face. I am so grateful for the support people show to my husband and our military, even if it means we get our dinner interrupted while someone we do not know wants to stop and say thank you or if we have to stop numerous times as we walk through an airport to shake someones hand. Those moments counter act the bad ones, and as a military spouse unfortunately we see them as well. His government phone used to ring at the same time every week with someone trying to entice him to come down town under the pretense that there were possible recruits he should come talk to, instead it was some locals who did a weekly protest of the war and the military, they would try to get him down there and then yell nasty slurs at him and try to get him to react to them, as he says he's got some pretty tough skin and he did not let it bother him, but it bothered me, he has sacrificed so much to allow these people the rights to feel however they want and they repay him by saying such ugly things to him, it broke my heart.
He had several parents act as if he was going to come steal their children right from their beds and send them off to the Army, and they had no problems telling him how they thought their kids were above military service. And the worst was the elementary school principle who would not allow him to speak to the children, he had gone with me at the request of one of the teachers (who had asked me to bring a Veterans out to talk to the kids on Veterans Day) the vet I had asked fell of a roof and was unable to go, my husband (who at the time was just my friend) stepped in and agreed to go, when we got there and they found out he was a recruiter he was not allowed to speak, they had him lead the kids in the pledge of allegiance but he could not say anything else, he said had it not been for the kids he would have walked out, but instead he lead them in the pledge dressed in his blues with all his ribbons on looking just like the real life hero he is.
Molly Pitcher
Last week we attended our second Saint Barbara's Ball, if you do not know (and I did not last year) Saint Barbara is the saint of the field artillery
This was the beginning of the ball with a few of the other wives, the two on either side of me also received the award this year.
a look at what the tables looked like all set up, they did a nice job with the decotations this year.
http://www.landscaper.net/artylgnd.htm#The Legend of Saint Barbara. There are many traditions that come with attending a military ball, I find them all to be interesting and always enjoy attending. This year our guest speaker was a 2star General, he gave an excellent speech one of the best I have heard at this type of event. During the ball military members are inducted into the order of Saint Barbara, they receive a medal and participate in a ceremony. Afterwards some of the wives in the Battalion receive the Molly Pitcher award http://www.landscaper.net/artylgnd.htm#The Story of Molly Pitcher, I was honored this year to be among the wives who received this award, it was really a wonderful surprise to hear I had been chosen.
I have not gotten my other computer up and running to put my pictures from that night in but I was able to "borrow" some from a friend.
Here you can see us getting ready to receive our medals,they are handed out to us by the LT Col and his wife who put them around our necks and them our husbands clasp them on.
This was the beginning of the ball with a few of the other wives, the two on either side of me also received the award this year.
a look at what the tables looked like all set up, they did a nice job with the decotations this year.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
marriage and the Army
Princess Dianna once said her marriage always had three people in it, I can very much relate to that statement, though in my own case the third person in my marriage is the Army.
As any military spouse can tell you the military takes precedence over everything, what is best for the mission will always come before what may be best for the family. You learn that all plans must be flexible, that at anytime the Army (in my case) can step in and need something, thus changing your plans, a prime example is the upcomming trip home for my Grandmothers 90th birthday, even though my husband has over 70 days of leave and will soon hit the use or loose it point, and we made plans to attend several months ago the company came up on training orders and will be gone for a month right in the middle of the trip, my husband will most likely get to stay back on rear D, but he will still not be eligable to leave the area (though there is a small hope he can get a pass for his days off and fly up for just one day, thank goodness I work for an airline so that is possible) when we found this out I did not even get upset, disappointed yes, upset no, why because I know this is how it goes.
As an Army wife I quickly learned that there will be many times he will not be able to be there. The Army is full of wives who have given birth to babies alone, spent Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays ect alone (or at least without their spouse) we learn to cope, we learn to do things oursleves we never thought we would, and best of all we learn to lean on each other.
As any military spouse can tell you the military takes precedence over everything, what is best for the mission will always come before what may be best for the family. You learn that all plans must be flexible, that at anytime the Army (in my case) can step in and need something, thus changing your plans, a prime example is the upcomming trip home for my Grandmothers 90th birthday, even though my husband has over 70 days of leave and will soon hit the use or loose it point, and we made plans to attend several months ago the company came up on training orders and will be gone for a month right in the middle of the trip, my husband will most likely get to stay back on rear D, but he will still not be eligable to leave the area (though there is a small hope he can get a pass for his days off and fly up for just one day, thank goodness I work for an airline so that is possible) when we found this out I did not even get upset, disappointed yes, upset no, why because I know this is how it goes.
As an Army wife I quickly learned that there will be many times he will not be able to be there. The Army is full of wives who have given birth to babies alone, spent Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays ect alone (or at least without their spouse) we learn to cope, we learn to do things oursleves we never thought we would, and best of all we learn to lean on each other.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Walter Reed
21 years ago Richard was a Private brand new to the Army and he got sent off to fight in Desert Storm, about 18 years later we started seeing some weird things happening to him, when we were still in Colorado he started breaking out in these huge hives, there was no reason for them, over the last 4 years we have seen numerous doctors, had all the allergy tests and found out he is not allergic to anything, what it comes down to is for some reason his body is reacting to and fighting itself. I started to do some research a few years ago when we were not getting any answers and determined that I am convinced he has Gulf War syndrome, he has all the symptoms I read about(not just hives), but like Agent Orange years ago Gulf War syndrome was very controversial, no one was really ready to admit it existed, even now that they know it does it is really just a name to give numerous different things that have happened to out veterans from the Persian Gulf that no one can explain.
Now on top of the hives the Dr's have found some abnormalities in Richards chest x ray, they think it is caused from the sand he breathed in there, he thinks it may have more to do with the fact that they did PT out in the open while all the oil fields were burning so they were breathing in all the chemicals.
So now that his retirement is getting closer he is in the midst of many physicals etc so that his medical profile will be complete when it is time to retire, they have decided now to send him for an evaluation at Walter Reed, we will be there for a week while he is checked out by the doctors there, then if they will decide if he should come back and be part of a study they are doing, if he is put in that he will be there for 3 weeks. Nothing he has right now is life threatening just annoying and hard to live with, so we are hopeful we will get some answers, some new ideas about how to treat things and medical documentation so that any treatment he needs will continue once he does retire.
We are off next week, with my flight benefits I am lucky enough to be able to afford to go with him, I am grateful for that as I want to hear what the doctors have to say.
Now on top of the hives the Dr's have found some abnormalities in Richards chest x ray, they think it is caused from the sand he breathed in there, he thinks it may have more to do with the fact that they did PT out in the open while all the oil fields were burning so they were breathing in all the chemicals.
So now that his retirement is getting closer he is in the midst of many physicals etc so that his medical profile will be complete when it is time to retire, they have decided now to send him for an evaluation at Walter Reed, we will be there for a week while he is checked out by the doctors there, then if they will decide if he should come back and be part of a study they are doing, if he is put in that he will be there for 3 weeks. Nothing he has right now is life threatening just annoying and hard to live with, so we are hopeful we will get some answers, some new ideas about how to treat things and medical documentation so that any treatment he needs will continue once he does retire.
We are off next week, with my flight benefits I am lucky enough to be able to afford to go with him, I am grateful for that as I want to hear what the doctors have to say.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Army Life as I see it
I am married to a soldier, I did not set out to marry one, though I always thought uniforms were pretty impressive I was not a girl who set out to marry a man in uniform. I am a pretty home and family oriented girl who loves stability and security, wanted to settle down in one place and stay there (that did not happen even before I married a soldier) so the fact that I married into the military is pretty surprising even to me, but as they say the heart wants what it wants and mine fell in love with a career soldier so my journey into military life began.
Along with being an Army wife I am also one of the leaders for my husbands companies FRG, I also did not set out to take on that assignment, I just happened to be at the meeting when they were saying they desperately needed volunteers and so another lady and myself found ourselves saying we would do it, a year later that has been quite an experience, I have learned a lot, made some great friends and gotten some valuable experience.
I adopted my first POW/MIA many years ago from a group that helps bring awareness of that situation, we each attempt to do whatever we can to make sure that all of our POW/MIA's are brought home, that their families are given the support and answers they so desperately deserve. Mine is a KIA from the Vietnam era, born and raised in a small town in Colorado where his family still lives, I do not know them, he was a name that was assigned to me, but I feel a responsibility to him and a love for the person I think he was and for the job he did and a huge respect for him for paying the ultimate price for our freedom, his story will appear in later blogs.
My husband is reaching retirement time, he has served for 21 years so we are close to the end, he has developed some health issues that we have tied to his time in the Persian Gulf while serving in Desert Storm.
The whole purpose of this blog is to bring more awareness to Gulf war syndrome, to perhaps bring some support and comfort to my fellow Army wives, maybe to help other FRG's with ideas, and to track our journey as we get closer to military retirement, basically it is tracking the life of a Army wife, I hope you enjoy our journey.
Along with being an Army wife I am also one of the leaders for my husbands companies FRG, I also did not set out to take on that assignment, I just happened to be at the meeting when they were saying they desperately needed volunteers and so another lady and myself found ourselves saying we would do it, a year later that has been quite an experience, I have learned a lot, made some great friends and gotten some valuable experience.
I adopted my first POW/MIA many years ago from a group that helps bring awareness of that situation, we each attempt to do whatever we can to make sure that all of our POW/MIA's are brought home, that their families are given the support and answers they so desperately deserve. Mine is a KIA from the Vietnam era, born and raised in a small town in Colorado where his family still lives, I do not know them, he was a name that was assigned to me, but I feel a responsibility to him and a love for the person I think he was and for the job he did and a huge respect for him for paying the ultimate price for our freedom, his story will appear in later blogs.
My husband is reaching retirement time, he has served for 21 years so we are close to the end, he has developed some health issues that we have tied to his time in the Persian Gulf while serving in Desert Storm.
The whole purpose of this blog is to bring more awareness to Gulf war syndrome, to perhaps bring some support and comfort to my fellow Army wives, maybe to help other FRG's with ideas, and to track our journey as we get closer to military retirement, basically it is tracking the life of a Army wife, I hope you enjoy our journey.
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